Have you ever witnessed a moment so beautiful and filled with love, it brings you to tears? A moment where you wish the entire world was next to you witnessing this pure, innocent, natural love. A moment where you think, if everyone had a heart like this we would live in an amazing world filled with peace, harmony and community.
We have all been witness to the beautiful moments in our lives. And many of us could name them and they would be big events, births, adoptions, graduations, weddings, surprises! These are beautiful moments in our lives filled with bliss and love. Then there are the small events, that we could miss if we aren’t astute to the love and purity of the moment. Yesterday, I witnessed a moment filled with pure love, friendship and care that blew me away.
My niece Kristina has a large group of friends who do a lot together, she has a bigger social life than I do! They bowl together, play soccer, bocci ball, go to the movies, play softball, and go to dances together often. They love going to Great Adventure, an amusement park, especially during Fright Fest, but really it is all year round! Many of these young adults have been friends for many years, the parents have become friends and they even allow me to join a lot of their fun! And they all have some developmental disability, they are not typical of their age. Some communicate well, some do not, and they are all filled with such joy when they are together. They may not have the ability to understand complex issues, but they have so much more heart than others!
Yesterday was Kristina’s birthday. For her birthday, she and a large group of her friends went to Great Adventure to go on rides and see how it was decorated for Fright Fest. Then they all went out to dinner, where others who did not make it to the amusement park met them, along with many of the parents. At dinner, my niece asked everyone to go around the table and talk about what they liked about her, similar to how I ask everyone at Thanksgiving to talk about what they are grateful and thankful for this year.
As each person spoke, you could hear, see and feel the love. One young lady spoke about how my niece gives her great advice and is a wonderful friend. One spoke about how he feels like her brother, always have each other’s back. One spoke about how much fun she was and how she was more like family than a friend. There were one or two who don’t talk much, who talked about Kristina with such love and care, you know she is very special to them. None of these were rehearsed. All of them were so pure and from the heart. There were tears, and a lot of hugs.
Every comment felt authentic, nothing forced, nothing from a selfish space, all from love. It reminded me of the love that fills us all and how many of us have let life’s circumstances turn our primary feelings to jealousy, worry, comparison, judgment, impatience, frustrations, doubt, instead of love. It reminded me that when you are coming from a place of love, there is no comparison, there is no judgment. A place of love allows us to accept people for who they are and nothing more or less. We have no expectations and therefore cannot be let down. We have no motivation except to love, never to hurt.
Being there yesterday and witnessing the love that 16 people had for my niece made my heart swell. To see her revel in the love that surrounds her and see her feel it through her words, and her tears was more beautiful than I could ever describe. The room was filled with pure love, the way we should all be celebrated in this world.
We could all learn a lot about life and ourselves if we spent a few hours with people who may be developmentally different. The biggest difference I have witnessed in the time I spend with people who are not typical is the inability to think in terms of hurting someone, having to be right versus wrong, needing to feel more powerful than someone else. They are not ego-driven at all, they are pure of spirit and soul and driven solely by love and the desire to be included.
Being this filled with love is an amazing way to live your life. We could all learn a few things from being with people who are pure of heart and soul. Today, I challenge us all to be filled with love, not judgment, not victim, not blaming, not worry, not fear, just love. Look at life through a lens of pure love and see how different your day may be.
Filled with love, that is my niece and today, that is me.